U.S. Proposes Compromise on Contraceptive Coverage

The Obama administration laid
out its blueprint for providing contraceptive coverage for
employees at nonprofit religious organizations on Friday,
proposing rules that would contain benefits within separate
individual insurance plans without cost to the employer.

(.)

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 The Obama administration laid
out its blueprint for providing contraceptive coverage for
employees at nonprofit religious organizations on Friday,
proposing rules that would contain benefits within separate
individual insurance plans without cost to the employer.

The new rules, which would be used to implement one of the
most controversial provisions of President Barack Obama's
healthcare reform law, follow months of protest and legal action
by the Roman Catholic Church, Protestant evangelicals and others
groups who oppose the measure as a violation of religious
liberty.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a
statement that the rules offer religiously affiliated hospitals,
universities and charities opposed to contraceptives coverage
with "an accommodation" that would allow employees and students
to enroll in separate contraceptive coverage plans without
copays and without cost to the employer.

Self-insured employers would provide notice to a third-party
administrator that would then work with an insurer to arrange
no-cost contraceptive coverage through separate individual
health insurance policies, HHS said.

The proposed rules, published in the Federal Register, are
open for public comment through April 8.